Figures are a damning indictment of Government policy that overlooks positive alternatives to abortion.
The official figures released today by the Department of Health show that 6,577 abortions took in place in Ireland in 2020, representing a massive increase in abortions since repeal happened.
Commenting on today’s figures, Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said:
“When you add today’s figure of 6,577 to the 194 abortions on women from Ireland who travelled to England in the same period, the total number of Irish abortions in 2020 was 6,771. This represents a massive 70% increase since 2018, the year prior to the introduction of abortion.
“The figures documenting the percentage increases in abortions since 2018 are arrived at by comparing the latest figures with the official numbers who travelled for abortions prior to repeal and by factoring in ‘pro-choice’ estimates for the number of illegal abortion pills accessed online prior to repeal. So, if anything, the percentage increases cited here are on the low side and could in fact be considerably higher.
“But one thing is clear – today’s abortion figures are devastating and are the opposite of what members of the Government repeatedly promised when they said abortions would be ‘rare’ if people voted for repeal. Voters were misled every step of the way by these same politicians. After today’s news, it cannot be ‘business as usual’ just because certain politicians and media commentators don’t want to take responsibility for what they have created. Abortions increased by close to 20% in the first quarter of 2020 over the previous year prior to the onset of the Covid-19 lockdown.
“In the space of only two years, everything that the pro-life movement warned would happen has sadly come to pass. In addition to the massive increase in abortions, we’ve seen from the recent study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology that babies who survived late-term abortions under Ireland’s new law have been left to die without receiving any palliative or medical care. Voters were promised that nothing as horrifying and inhumane as this would ever happen. Likewise, we were told it was scaremongering to suggest misdiagnoses would occur in the detection of life-limiting conditions resulting in the deaths of unborn babies. Last week, we learned about the High Court settlement after baby Christopher Joseph Kiely was aborted following a misdiagnosis, leaving his parents bereft and devastated. How many other babies were aborted in similar circumstances under the new law?
“It is an outrage that over €20 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on abortion provision to date and not a cent on positive alternatives to abortion. Ireland’s abortion rate is soaring because those in charge of overseeing its roll-out seem committed to even more abortions taking place not less and because the politicians in the main political parties who should be demanding oversight are too frightened of being attacked and labelled by a media who have abandoned all journalistic objectivity when it comes to abortion. That’s the sorry state our country finds itself in. Thankfully however not everything is so dispiriting. Thanks to a small number of committed TDs and Senators the hard questions are starting to be asked of those overseeing the running of the new abortion law. As more comes to light about how the new law is operating the demand for answers will grow and changes will start to happen. The fast-track way abortions are taking place without a single mention of positive alternatives is undoubtedly contributing to massive increases evidenced in today’s figures. As an immediate first step, space must be found at the decision-making table for people who offer alternative perspectives and have experience in the area of providing positive alternatives to abortion. These voices can no longer be shut out. We cannot have a situation a year from now where nothing has changed and the abortion rate continues to spiral upwards.”
